Basel almost waved goodbye to the Europa League after suffering an agonizing 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at home in the semi-final first leg. The dramatic winner came via a David Luiz freekick in the final minute of injury time. Basel thought they had claimed a late equalizer when Fabian Schar converted a controversial penalty to cancel out Victor Moses' early header for Chelsea. Egypt duo Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Al-Nenni started for the Swiss champions, but were both substituted in the second half. Al-Nenni at fault? Al-Nenni could have scored the opener when his third-minute attempted cross almost flew into the net. The Egypt midfielder was slightly responsible for Chelsea's goal as Moses' header went right above his head when he was guarding the right post. Both teams were denied by the woodwork after the break as Fernando Torres replied to an effort from Valentin Stocker. Basel got their equalizer through a dubious 87th minute penalty converted by Schar. But Chelsea's Brazilian midfielder David Luiz said the final word with the last kick of the game.
